Railway-switch.



W. BERGER.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION I'ILED MAR.19,1914.

1,1()O,1 14. Patented June 16,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

nmmn 7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM BERGER, OF WINFIELD, IOWA.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM BERGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Winfield, in the county of Henry and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Switches; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in railway switches and more particularly to connections between the switch tongues and the bar for operating said tongues to cause them to contact with the inner sides of the rails.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a yielding connection between the above mentioned elements whereby, when either of the tongues are swung into contact with the rails, said tongues may be readily forced away from said rails by the action of the flanges of a car wheel in passing between said tongues and the rails.

A secondary object is to construct the above mentioned elements in such a manner as to protect all parts from the elements.

With the above objects in view, the invention resides in certain novel features of construction and combination herein described and claimed and shown in the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved switch, one of the tongues being swung into cont-act with one of the rails; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a pair of car wheels, and illustrating the manner in which said tongues are forced away from the rails to allow said flange to pass; Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the parts shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the clamps being removed and the upper section of the casing being removed; Fig. 4 is a vertical cross section on the line 44 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 is a detail longitudinal section taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a pair of rails 1 and 2, a pair of switch tongues 3 and 4, a number of ties 5 to which said rails are secured and upon which said tongues slide, a switch operating bar 6, a lever 7 for shifting said bar and my improved connection 8 between said switch tongues.

As clearly shown in the plan views, the

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 19, 1914.

Patented June 16, 1914.

Serial No. 825,851.

rails 1 and 2 diverge from the points at which the tapered ends of the switch tongues 3 and 4 terminate, one of said rails new constituting half of the main track and the remaining rail constituting half of the switch or siding. As will be readily understood, the tongues 3 and 4 coact with the rails 1 and 2 for completing the main track and the siding and their use is too well known to re quire an extended explanation.

The switch operating bar 6 extends transversely beneath the tapered ends of the tongues 3 and 4 and the rails l and 2, contiguous thereto and one end of said bar is pivotally connected at 9 to the switch operating lever 7 which is preferably mounted to swing in a vertical plane upon one of the ties 5. The central portion of the switch operating bar 6 carries a semicylindrical section 10 which is rigidly secured thereto by means of rivets 11 or other suitable fastenings. The opposite ends of the section 10 are provided with semi-circular recesses 12 which are adapted for the reception of a hollow connecting rod 13 which is pivotally connected by means of T-shaped couplings 14, to the inner sides of the tongues 3 and 4.

As clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the shanks of the couplings 14 are bent downwardly and pivoted loosely within the opposite ends of the connecting rod 13 by means of upright pins 15, the heads of said T-shaped couplings being rigidly secured bydbolts 16 to said tongues, near their free en s.

The connecting rod 13 is preferably formed in two sections of steel piping, said sections having their inner ends threaded and engaged with an internally threaded sleeve 17 whereby a rigid connection is established between said sections, said sleeve 17 acting as a stop, in a manner to appear. Loosely encircling each section of the rod 13 is a coil spring 18, said springs being compressed and having their opposite ends engaged with the opposite ends of the easing section 10 and with the sleeve or stop 17 By this construction, it will be readily seen that when the lever 7, is operated and the bar 6 is moved in either direction, one of the switch tongues will be forced into contact with one of the rails. lVere it not for the yielding connection, above described, the tongues could not be properly positioned with respect to the rails 1 and 2 without extremely accurate positioning of parts.

With the use of said yielding connection, the parts are so positioned as to cause the lever 7 to stand a few degrees above its limit of movement when either one of the switch tongues is in contact with the rails. Thus it will be seen that when said lever is forced entirely down, the section 10, of the casing will pull upon one of the springs 18 which now exerts a yielding pressure upon the stop 17 to force one of the tongues into yielding contact with the rail contiguous thereto.

By reference to Fig. 2, it will be readily seen that said switch tongues are allowed to move out of contact with said rails for the purpose of allowing the flange F of a car wheel to pass between said tongues and the rails.

For the purpose of shielding the springs 18 and the remaining parts within the section 10 of the casing, I provide an upper semi-cylindrical section 19 which is of the same configuration as the section 10 and is provided, at its opposite ends, with semicircular notches 20 which coact with the notches 12 for allowing the connecting rod 13 to move freely. VVhe-n the section 19 is in position upon the section 10, its lower edge will contact with the upper edge of said section 10, ample space remaining within said sections, to allow the proper manipulation of the stop 17 and the springs 18. For the purpose of removably securing the section 19 in position, I provide a pair of inverted -U-shaped slips 21 which straddle the sections 10 and 19, their free ends depending on opposite sides of the operating bar 6 and receiving clamping plates 22 and the nuts 23. When it is necessary to remove the section 19, the nuts 23 may be loosened whereupon the clips 21 may be removed as shown in Fig. 3.

The opposite ends of the casing, formed by the sections 10 and 19, are preferably rounded as shown at 24, this formation facilitating the engagement of the clips 21 with said casing and also presenting a neat appearance.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood without requiring a more extended explanation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to\secure by Letters Patent is:

A railway switch comprising a path of rails, a pair of switch tongues, a "transverse switch operating bar beneath said rails and tongues, a semi-cylindrical easing section secured rigidly upon the upper side of said bar, said section having alined notches in the upper faces of its end walls, a tongue connecting rod resting slidably within said notches and having its opposite ends attached to said tongues, a stop 011 said rod within said casing section, coil springs encircling said rod between said stop and the ends of said section, a semi-cylindrical cover section having alined notches in its opposite ends, said cover section being disposed over said first mentioned section and said notches coacting with said first mentioned notches to produce alined guides for traveling on said rod, clamps embracing said switch operating bar and two sections of said casing, and means for moving said bar.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM BERGER.

Witnesses J. F. CREIGHTON, B. B. LINDLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

